


Running on Highways and Dust

by LieutenantSaavik



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: F/F, In Words, Snow, snow in the city
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-12
Updated: 2016-07-12
Packaged: 2018-07-23 12:51:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,430
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7463958
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LieutenantSaavik/pseuds/LieutenantSaavik
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It's the first snow of the winter in New York City, and Wanda and Natasha decide to make the most of it. (This work can stand alone)</p>
            </blockquote>





	Running on Highways and Dust

**Author's Note:**

> Written mostly to 'In Words' by Marika Hackman.
> 
> (Though this is technically a Part II, every work in this series both fits with the others and stands alone.)

Natasha slams the door, hefting her black leather satchel over her shoulder. It’s late and the night is cold and she left her jacket in her room in Stark tower (again). The wind really is biting this late at night. Clouds are coming in from the north, further obscuring the almost invisible stars. With every puff of wind, the sky gets darker, and soon even the moon is covered by the incoming blanket of clouds.

 

Natasha shivers again; it’s almost twelve and she’s had a long day. Steve and Bucky were trying to buy an apartment together and needed her help since they are two idiots in love who don’t know how modern real estate works.

Not that she blames them; modern real estate is a bitch. But nothing’s too hard for an ex-Soviet spy to handle.

 

Musing on the state of the Avengers (half of them moved out after the Accords mess and haven’t been seen since) and sparing a thought for Banner, who is probably still lost on the ocean, she unlocks the door and strides across the hallway.

 

Wanda’s already there, surprisingly, standing by the elevator and apparently either texting someone or writing something down on her phone. She’s wearing her baseball cap and matching dark green jacket that flatters her so well. Her long hair is pulled back in a ponytail, the first time Natasha has seen it tied back. It looks good.

“Hey,” Wanda says, looking up. She pockets her phone and greets Natasha with a kiss on the cheek. Nat smiles. She’s unsure where their relationship is going, or if it’s going anywhere at all, but for now they are the badass superhero girlfriends that all the girl-loving girls in the world should look up to. Wanda slips two fingers around Natasha’s slack hand, and Natasha squeezes back.

 

“Your hands are cold, Natasha,” says Wanda, concernedly. She clasps Nat’s hand tighter, massaging it lightly. Nat sighs as she feels the warm blood flow back freely to the tips of her fingers. “It’s cold out there,” she says, shivering slightly.

“I think it’s nice,” whispers Wanda thoughtfully, placing the hand not holding Natasha’s on her chin and staring upward, while sliding her fingers between Nat’s. “My favorite season was always winter. Pietro and I were born during a snowfall and since then I suppose I have always felt... free, in the cold.”

“So was I,” says Natasha, smiling. “Born during a snowfall, I mean. It was late November, but in Russia, winter lasts much longer than it does here.” Her face grows as wistful as Wanda’s. “I always loved the snow.”

“So do I,” grins Wanda, “more than anything else.”

There’s a bit of a pause as they remember when Wanda had sent Natasha back to a snow-filled forest in her mind. It had not ended well for either of them, since the positive memory had triggered some disturbing ones on Natasha’s part.

“Take me back,” Natasha says suddenly.

“What?”

“To that forest. That memory.”

“Wha- are you sure, Natasha?”

“Yeah,” she says, shaking out her red hair and finally pressing the elevator button to take both of them upward. “I want to see it again.”

“I don’t think I should,” says Wanda, shaking her head slightly.

Natasha fidgets and drops Wanda’s hand. Why does she want to go back? She wants to conquer the memory; she wants to prove to herself that she’s stronger. She wants to outgrow it. And, perhaps most of all, she wants to see what was once her home again.

“Please.”

“No.”

“Wanda…”

“There’s something better!” Wanda says suddenly, squeezing Natasha’s hand and ignoring the elevator doors opening behind them. She runs to the window, hair swishing back and forth, and presses her hands up on the sill. She jumps for joy, a tiny, innocent gesture that is so at-odds with her usually somber exterior. A small, excited sound comes from her mouth and she whirls to face Natasha, giving her a wide, incredulous grin.

Like an excited child, she throws open the door to Stark Tower and dashes out into the night sky, spinning around and around. She throws her hands up and laughs and Nat watches in bewilderment for a moment before realizing that it’s _snowing_.

“Now?” she asks, before realizing she won’t question it. She drops her purse on the ground, uncaring, and races for the door, wrenching it open and inhaling the taste of snow, deep, deep into her lungs that were starving for that powder, for those beautiful ice crystals that transform the world.

Wanda is laughing, catching snowflakes in her palms. She brings her cupped hands close to her face and stares at them, watching them melt. “Look at them, Natasha!” she blurts, joy written across her face. Her eyes are shining.

 

Then she stretches out her hands. Red spirals up into the air and snowflakes whirl around, forming a formation. She throws her hands out, shooting the flakes right at Natasha.

“Oh no you didn’t!” shouts Nat, running at Wanda and tackling her in a giddy hug. The cold in her is gone; Wanda’s brilliant eyes have taken it. They twirl in a circle for a moment as the snow falls faster and faster and Wanda whirls it up in a ring around them, encircling them, almost protectively.

 

Then Wanda falls backward, laughing. Natasha follows her down, landing on top of her on the cold ground. The snow isn’t sticking, but it’s falling fast. By morning there’ll likely be an inch; perhaps more.

 

“We should go for a run,” says Natasha after a moment of their bodies close together, Natasha on top of Wanda, a question in Wanda’s eyes.

“What?”

“Through the city. Running in the snow, before it sticks to the ground. It’s like magic.”

“That does sound magical,” Wanda agrees. Natasha shifts off of her, smiling. “Shall we?”

Wanda grins, sitting up. “Let’s do it.”

They stand up together, helping each other even though neither of them need help. The two of them squeeze each other’s cold hands for a moment before taking off, running eastward towards the expressway. Natasha decides she doesn’t need her jacket; the exercise will keep her warm.

 

It’s dark, since the moon is covered. The snow falls gently in random patterns, seeming to give off a soft, grey light of its own, augmented by the streetlights and pollution in the air. The city is alert and cars are honking on the highways, but the snow seems to muffle their anger, diluting it to an almost peaceful background hum. Snow is starting to collect on the colder buildings; stone window-ledges or the wrought-iron balconies of the apartments higher up. They run past the traffic jams, heading for the highway that Natasha had just taken to get back into the city.

 

The dust and smoke of the city is mingling with the snow, but for now, the dust is winning. They’re running on highways and dust and the snow is falling around them, blanketing the world and muting it.

The sky is above them, overarching them like comfort, and somehow, on this night, on this highway, there is peace. Everything seems farther away, removed. The city is quieter and musical now, full of the chords of life.

 

Wanda slows to a walk. Natasha follows suit and they walk on the side of the road, clasping hands. “It’s beautiful,” says Wanda, gesturing to the night all around her. The cars next to them sweep by; the traffic, this late (or rather early) has mostly disappeared. “It’s calm,” she continues. “Somehow.”

Natasha nods, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear.

“I didn’t know there was any calm in the city.”

“There is. But it’s hard to find. It’s tucked away, behind bars or doors or in the open spaces that nobody would think to look for it.”

Wanda nods and turns. Natasha turns with her and they begin to jog back towards Stark tower, faces flushed with snow and cold.

“Is it home?” Wanda asks the sky and the city. Neither offer a response.  
“I want to go home,” whispers Wanda, dropping her head.

Natasha doesn’t know what to say.  
“So did I,” she says finally. “For a long time. It took years for this,” she gestures around her, “to become anything resembling a place where I could find myself a space to just _exist_ , I guess.”

“I can’t put it in words but…” Wanda trails off. “Everything is different.”

“I know.”

There’s a silence filled with the sounds of the city.

“I’m here for you, though.”

“Thank you.”


End file.
